B X 

988(o 


.~Bip 



*EV, RALPH H. BORNMAN 









Class 3Xqt&aCi 

Book_3^.— 

Copyright N°_ 


COPYRIGHT UEPOSm 






















Rev. Ralph H. Bornman 









Christian View of Life 

Devotional Discourses 


BY 

REV. RALPH H. BORNMAN 

(Muhlenberg College and Moravian Theological Seminary) 
PASTOR OF ST. JOHN’S U. E. .CHURCH 

Allentown, Pa. 




“One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house 
of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his 
temple.”— Psalm 27: 4 




Copyright, 1923, by 
Rev. Ralph H. Bornman 



BERKEMEYER, KECK & CO. 
Book Manufacturers 
Allentown, Pennsylvania 


MAR 


15*24 


©C1A777643 

yvo \ 


This Volume 

IS DEDICATED TO THE 

Memory of my Sainted Mother 
and the Devotion of my 
Aged Father, who have sacrificed 

THEIR LIVES TO EQUIP ME FOR 

the Christian Ministry 


1 


I 


PREFACE 


Believing that the salvation of my fellow men is 
the highest motive of life, I have been moved, by the 
prompting, of God’s Spirit, to put forth an effort 
toward the advancement of this end. May God 
bless the message to the hearts of my readers, in the 
hope that it may accomplish the purpose whereunto 
it is sent. 

Ralph H. Bornman 

Alburtis, Pa. 

August, 1923 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 


I—Life’s 
II—Life’s 

III— Life’s 

IV— Life’s 
V —Life’s 

VI —Life’s 
VII —Life’s 
VIII —Life’s 
IX —Life’s 
X —Life’s 


Perspective. 

Purpose. 

Call. 

Hidden Treasure. 

Estimation. 

Value. 

Secret. 

Test. 

Jubilee. 

Hope or Immortality 

































A Christian View of Life 


CHAPTER I 
Life’s Perspective 

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all 
these things shall be added unto you.”— Matt. 6: 33. 

The opening of every year brings with it new thoughts, 
new hopes, new aspirations. It is that time of the 
year when a new start is taken in every vocation and 
walk of life. It is like the dawning of another day 
when the sky of the past night changes into the bright¬ 
ness of the rising sun. It is like the awakening out of 
the sleep of the past night into the freshness of another 
day. It is like casting off the garments of the past 
night and putting on the apparel of the day. It is 
for this reason that the new year is the appropriate 
and suitable time for setting up standards and ideals in 
the form of resolutions, expressing the purpose and the 
desire of our heart for the year before us. The opening 
of the new year is the most proper of all times of the 
year in which to set before us the goal of our life; to 

[ 9 ] 


LIFE’S PERSPECTIVE 


establish a definite aim to which our life shall aspire; to 
determine what shall be the controlling motive that 
must govern all our thoughts, all our actions and the 
final outcome of the course we choose. 

Realizing, therefore, the important significance of 
the beginning of another year, what is the aim of our 
life in this new year? In order that our life may not 
drift through this new year in an aimless course, it 
becomes necessary for us to have a goal to which our 
life shall tend. In order that our life this year shall 
not be wasted, but be given to proper use, it becomes 
necessary for us to determine the channel in which 
our life shall flow. 

The life of every man is a search, a seeking, a striv¬ 
ing for the attainment of a certain end. Christ most 
keenly felt this natural tendency in man, and so He 
has furnished us with the most lofty aim to which any 
man may ever hope to aspire. Christ never failed to 
meet the desire and the longing of the human heart. 
For every worthy and noble craving in man, Christ 
ever furnishes abundant satisfaction and fullness of 
joy. 

In order, therefore, that man may gratify every 
high and holy desire, Christ has set before us an aim 

[ 10 ] 


LIFE’S PERSPECTIVE 


that is deep as the heart; wide as the world; and high 
as the heaven. There is no higher, more fascinating, 
and more worthy goal upon which any man may set 
his affections, than that presented by Christ when He 
said: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God.” Herein 
is encompassed the whole ocean of human ambition; 
for who can measure the infinite joy in seeking the 
kingdom of God? Commendable as are the many 
resolutions the new year again has borne, none is to 
be compared in grandeur and fame with this supreme 
aim, as handed down the ages by Christ the Lord. 
Our Lord never dealt with trivial, unimportant 
matters, and hence when He emphasized the “Seek ye 
first,” we may take it for certain that He meant it to 
be the most important aim of all the attainments of 
life. 

The word “first” is indicative of the lasting import¬ 
ance to which our text would lay claim. All other 
aims, to which any man may ever rise, are second in 
esteem to the supreme aim of the kingdom of God. 
Christ was well aware of the falsity of man’s judgment, 
and hence He focused attention upon the order of 
time as based upon the significance of His teaching. 
Christ raised the importance of our text by numeri- 

[ 11 ] 


LIFE’S PERSPECTIVE 


cally placing it first among a long list of worthy ideals. 
How then can we escape the immensity of the claim 
this text makes upon our life, when Christ Himself 
gave it such a commanding position as first above all 
else? If Christ the Lord regarded this goal of life 
with such a great degree of esteem, as to give it such a 
paramount position, surely no man can afford to under¬ 
rate and overlook the keen attention it deserves in 
our consideration. 

The very first word “seek” at once arrests our atten¬ 
tion. Christ stresses the act of seeking as a vital 
condition in reaching the kingdom of God as our aim 
in life. The kingdom of God is an object to be sought; 
a prize to be won; a treasure to be possessed. It is an 
enterprise which has wrapped up in its boundless 
store enough mystery, enough inducement, enough 
satisfaction to engage the whole life of man in one 
continual search. O, the depth of the riches, both of 
wisdom and knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord! 
How unsearchable are His judgments! This short 
span of life will not be long enough within which to 
reach the unfathomable depth of the kingdom of God. 
Nay, for we shall spend all eternity in seeking and 
learning more of the boundless wisdom, overflowing 

[ 12 1 


LIFE’S PERSPECTIVE 


riches and matchless joy of the kingdom of God. 
Christ, in setting before us this wonderful aim, has 
given us an inexhaustible source of wealth, which 
any man may acquire through a diligent search of the 
Holy Scriptures; through spiritual meditation; and 
through an unbroken communion with the Father in 
heaven. All of this Christ reflected in the words 
“seek ye” as indicating our duty over against so great 
a reward. No one can ever hope to lay hold on God’s 
kingdom, who fails to realize, that seeking for it is the 
main and first care of every man’s life. Till a man 
comes to this state, his life is a life of revolt and sin; 
and he is at war with the universe and himself. Seek¬ 
ing after the kingdom of God involves interests of 
surpassing and infinite importance. Godliness is profit¬ 
able unto all things, having the promise of this life 
and of that which is to come. Wherefore, Christ 
declares that seeking after His Father’s kingdom 
must receive the first consideration in our life. 

The preceding verses reflect the adverse feeling 
man sustains to this supreme aim of Christ. These 
verses set forth the preferences man holds over against 
this fundamental requisite. Earthly possessions and 
the cares of this life are the great concern which blind 

[ 13 ] 


LIFE’S PERSPECTIVE 


our view to the larger and more important perspective 
of life. In the time in which our Lord lived, property 
consisted largely of linen and embroidered goods. 
To have a large store of these was the ancient Jewish 
notion of wealth. Christ, in looking at the large 
piles of linen and embroidered goods, said: “Take 
care that the moth does not get into this goods; do 
not forget that consuming insect, else all your wealth 
will soon be gone.” 

In the time in which our Lord lived, treasures were 
largely hidden in the earth. Men would dig a pit in 
the field and there hide their most valuable possessions. 
Jesus Christ, looking at the man filling up the earth 
with his treasure, said: “Remember the rust; what 
you put into the earth is exposed to danger; you may 
cover it up very carefully, but the rust will get at it.” 
In the time in which our Lord lived, houses were 
largely built of mud, so that a thief could easily bore 
his way through this mud wall and get at the treasures 
hidden inside. Jesus Christ, beholding the man build¬ 
ing his house with mud, said: “Take care, it is only 
mud; remember, the thief can easily break through 
your mud defense and lay hold upon your stored 
treasure.” Christ said: “The riches, with which 

[14] 


LIFE’S PERSPECTIVE 


you men are concerned, can be eaten by the moth; 
can perish in the earth; and can be stolen by the thief.” 
Therefore, lookout for the treasures that are subject 
to anxious thought and countless worries. That 
which you have in your hands can be taken out of 
them; therefore, seek for something better, that cannot 
perish or be taken from you. 

Having this fact well established, Christ points to 
the impossibility of setting two goals before us, which 
He expresses in saying, “No man can serve two mas¬ 
ters.” Slavery figured very prominently in the time 
in which our Lord lived. Christ frequently beheld 
many slaves surrounding Him, and pointing to them, 
Christ said: “No slave can serve two masters.” 
A slave was the earthly possession of his master, just 
like houses and land. And so belonging only to one 
master, a slave could, therefore, only serve one master 
at one time. Wherefore, Christ concluded in saying, 
“No man can seek after My Father’s kingdom and with 
the same mind seek after the kingdoms of this world, 
Choose ye therefore whom ye will serve and what 
ye shall seek, inasmuch as it is impossible for any 
man to reach two goals and obey two masters.” 

It is a part of the confusion with which this world 

[15] 


LIFE’S PERSPECTIVE 

of ours is crowded that the order of things has been 
seriously inverted. The wrong thing done at the wrong 
time and in the wrong place, very often takes the 
place of the right thing, which should be given the 
right of way. Christ plainly foresaw this human 
difficulty and therefore purposed to throw light upon 
it by giving us this inspiring text. One of the great 
purposes of the Holy Word of God is to correct and 
re-establish our perverted notion of things, by telling 
us what is of first and second importance in our life. 
If we hearken to the dictates of our own wisdom, 
without consulting the inspired word of God, we shall 
be misled like the blind leading the blind. In our 
text Christ gives us one of the many instances of how 
the word of God rectifies human calculation, by im¬ 
pressing upon us what is the first care of a man’s life; 
by guiding our thoughts toward the true perspective 
of life. 

In the immediately preceding verses, Christ points 
to the wrong view of that which constitutes the main 
care of a man’s life. Christ rebukes this view in say¬ 
ing, Wherefore, take no thought for your life, saying, 
what shall we eat, or what shall we drink; nor yet for 
your body, what ye shall put on. For after all these 

[ 16 ] 


LIFE’S PERSPECTIVE 


things do the Gentiles seek.” Our main concern in 
life shall not be centered upon these temporal things, 
for Christ said: “Your heavenly Father knoweth 
you have need of these things.” 

Rather, we are first to make sure of heaven, by 
making heaven our end and a holy life our way. This 
is the aim upon which Christ would center our life. 
Let your first thought be that of making sure of heaven. 
Let nothing interfere with your life until you have 
made sure of heaven. Be resolved in this new year 
to have your life’s perspective be that of making sure 
of heaven, by seeking to live a righteous life, such as 
exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees. Seek the 
things of God and whenever the things of this world 
come into competition, remember to which we are to 
give the preference. The best way to be most comfort¬ 
ably provided for in this world is to be most intent 
upon the world to come. 

Christ adds: “Where your treasure is, there is your 
heart also.” It could not be otherwise. This teaching 
is so plain, that it scarcely needs any further explana¬ 
tion. We at once recognize the treasure of our life 
to be the magnetic attraction of our heart; therefore, 
Jesus would have the treasure spiritual. Christ assures 

[ 17 ] 


LIFE’S PERSPECTIVE 


his children as does the psalmist that he is our shepherd 
and that we shall not want any good thing. Christ 
gives perfect assurance that the heavenly Father is 
not unmindful of things that we need, and that he will 
provide them. No one enjoying the matchless com¬ 
munion with the Infinite God, doubts this great truth 
for a moment. Our whole discourse Christ concluded 
in saying, “All these things shall be added unto you.” 
This promise is based upon the condition of establish¬ 
ing, as our life’s perspective, Christ’s words, when He 
said: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God.” God’s 
standards of life are highest and hence God takes a 
second place in no man’s heart. One must make 
God first or claim no promises. We then begin at 
the right end of our life’s perspective when we begin 
with God. 

Seek God first every day. Let your first waking 
thoughts be of God. Let this be our principle in life, 
in resolving to do that first which is most needful. Let 
God, who is the first, have the first consideration in 
our life. 


[ 18 ] 


CHAPTER II 
Life’s Purpose 

“To this end was I born."— John 18: 37. 

Introduction —In Maeterlink’s exquisite play, en¬ 
titled “The Blue Bird,” there is a beautiful scene of 
the unborn babes of the future, waiting to be brought 
to earth. They are seen crowding toward the ship of 
Old Father Time, clamoring to be taken aboard. Each 
holds in a tiny hand the commission it has been given 
to execute in this earth. One is commissioned to be 
an artist; another a poet; another a sculptor, and so 
on from the greatest even to the least of them. This 
poetic scene is a vivid illustration of the great truth, 
namely, that the Creator has endowed each individual 
with certain talents and gifts, which He expects man to 
develop to its utmost capacity. 

v.1 ^ fcl. st. vV. 

rr* iT* ^ ^ 

Every person has a certain end or purpose in view, 
which he hopes to attain some time in life. Each has 
a certain longing and desire to be and to do something. 
“Where there is no vision the people perish.” We all 

[ 19 ] 



LIFE’S PURPOSE 


as with a prophetic eye look as far as possible into 
the future vision of life. This we do because we realize 
that everything is here for a definite and specific pur¬ 
pose. Look wherever you will and you will not see 
anything in God’s whole universe that is not here for 
a definite purpose. 

Listen to every little creature. The fly as he hums; 
the bee as he buzzes; the bird as he chirps; the ant as 
it crawls, and the spider as it spins—listen, and all 
seem to tell you, “To this end was I born.” 

Behold the lifeless objects of nature; the silent 
witnesses of the love of God. The small blade of 
grass, as it gives all that beautiful green covering; 
the flower to beautify and purify; the tree to shade 
and bear fruit; the brooklet to water the land; the 
stone to strengthen and build; the sun, moon and 
stars, as they shine forth in all their radiance and 
glory—behold them and all seem to tell you, “To this 
end was I born.” 

This suggests that all of us are here for a certain 
purpose. Each is destined for something. Each has 
a certain place to fill in life, which no one else can fill. 
God has something waiting for every one of us; some¬ 
where at some time; something that just suits for you 

[201 




LIFE’S PURPOSE 


and me, so that we with all nature might say, “To 
this end was I born.” 

Let us pass back to the day of the ancients and we 
shall find that each was born to perform a certain 
work. Abraham was born to be an example of faith 
unto all generations. Noah was born to build the 
ark and thereby save humanity from being washed 
from off the face of the earth. Joseph was born to 
save the land from starvation and thereby became the 
savior of his own people and race. Moses was born 
to lead the children of Israel into the promised land. 
David was born to be a warrior and thereby fight in 
behalf of God’s people. Solomon was born to execute 
wisdom and justice. Queen Esther was born to save 
her own distinct people from the hand of the persecutor. 
Mary and Joseph were born to bring up, nurture and 
maintain the Saviour of the world. Jesus Himself, 
the greatest of all human beings, was born to do good, 
to suffer and finally to be nailed to the cross that you 
and I might be saved from eternal torment. And so 
all of these and many more, if they were here today, 
would tell us, “Even so to this end was I born.” 

Friends, like these venerable personages of old, 
we also are born unto a certain end. The first thing 

[21] 


LIFE’S PURPOSE 


to do in order to attain that end is to find our place 
in life; that place where God intends us to be; that 
place where we are suited best and needed most. 

A young man, applying for a license to preach the 
gospel, was asked by the bishop as to what his convic¬ 
tion of his call to the ministry might be. The young 
man replied, “I had a dream and therein I saw two 
letters—they were P. C.” “And what did they mean 
to you?” was the forthcoming reply, whereupon the 
young man answered, “That meant to me—preach 
Christ.” The bishop, hesitating for a moment, finally 
replied, “Might that not also have meant plow corn?” 

The finding of one’s place in life is one of the greatest 
problems confronting man, but it can be solved if we, 
like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, place our life into 
the hands of God. 

Not until we have a vision of the end for which we 
were born will we find self-satisfaction, true happiness 
and ultimate victory. The happiest man is he who 
has caught the vision of his life purpose, and lives 
with God as friend with friend. 

We cannot all be kings, leaders and men of popular 
applause with Solomon, David and Samuel; but some 
must fill the humble places in life with Jesse, Hannah 

[ 22 ] 




LIFE’S PURPOSE 


and Gideon. Suppose a half-dollar should refuse to 
be used because it can only do half as much as the 
dollar; foolish coin you would say, and rightly so. 
Suppose I decline to do my part in life because I can 
do only half as much as some other man; foolish man 
you would say, and rightly so. Honor the position 
in which God has placed you, and don’t wait for it 
to honor you. If you cannot do what you like to do, 
then try to like what you are doing. Remember, God 
often has a great share in a little house and a little 
share in a big house. Friends, may we be content 
with the lot assigned to us by God, and with His Son 
Jesus say, “Even so to this end was I born.” 

Then with Moses we must be prepared for the task, 
which God has waiting for us. We may not as yet 
be ready to serve our purpose in life. The photog¬ 
rapher takes his sensitive plate into a dark room, 
there to develop his picture. Before that process it 
is not yet ready to serve its purpose. So God often 
draws the curtain upon us and there in the darkness 
He brings out some rare beauty in our lives. O, friends, 
may we meet with God in the bush, and there ask the 
Master for Peter’s hook to bring up the fish; for David’s 
staff to guide the sheep aright; for David’s sling to 

[ 23 ] 


LIFE’S PURPOSE 


meet our giant foe; for Gideon’s torch to light the way, 
saying with all sincerity of purpose, “Even so to this 
end was I born.” 

Then being prepared for the task God has waiting 
for us, may we with Joshua be determined to succeed 
in that with which we are entrusted. We must feel 
that we are capable of challenging that which we are 
suited for in life. A man cannot fail who believes in 
himself. To see what is right and then to be able to do 
it, is the most severe of all tests. If a man is not able 
to stand alone upon his feet; alone on the lofty peeks 
of serenity, unruffled by the storms of opposition, he 
is every man’s man but his own. A man must be 
true to his ideals and he must endeavor to lift up the 
multitude to his ideals, if he knows he is in the right, 
instead of descending to their point of view. To suc¬ 
ceed we must remain moderate at all times and under 
all conditions and not go to either extreme, should 
fortune favor or frown us. One way to get ahead and 
stay ahead is to use a head. 

Lastly, may we with the Apostle Paul, learn to 
persevere in that with which we have been entrusted, 
even unto the end. We must not become tired of our 
lot, but stick to it through thick and thin. The 

[24] 


LIFE’S PURPOSE 


postage stamp when placed upon an envelope will 
stay with that envelope until it has reached its desti¬ 
nation. It stays with its job; it sticks to its purpose. 
Look at the stamp upon an envelope you just have 
received. You will see upon it marks indicating that 
it has accomplished the purpose for which it was 
intended. Even so we, as human beings, should be 
marked by goods all along the way of life, indicating 
that we are accomplishing the purpose that God has 
in our lives. 

We owe it to God to fulfill the end whereunto we 
were born. There was a time when you and I stood 
upon the slave block of sin. Some are standing there 
now. The occasion was the auction of souls. The 
world and Satan were bidding for our souls. Then 
suddenly upon the scene came a man with a crown of 
thorns upon his head. He also offered to buy our 
souls and made a full and complete purchase, even 
with the dear price of his own precious blood. As we 
look back upon this scene we hear Him saying unto us, 
“I gave My life for thee; what hast thou given for Me? 
I left My home for thee; what hast thou left for Me? 
I bore bitterest agony for thee; what hast thou borne 
for Me? I brought salvation, full and free, to thee; 

[ 25 ] 


LIFE’S PURPOSE 


what hast thou brought to Me? This I have done for 
thee; what hast thou done for Me?” 

O, for a more purposeful life, stimulated not by 
selfish motives, but by the deepest emotions of the 
Holy Spirit, which make for the triumphant ideal of 
the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of man. 
O, for a life that absorbs the highest possibilities of 
which it is capable, in the service of the Master. O, 
for a life against which it cannot be said, “Thou art 
weighed in the balances and found wanting.” More¬ 
over, “Only an armor bearer, proudly I stand; waiting 
to follow the King’s command. If in the battle to 
my trust I’m true, mine shall be the honor in the grand 
review.” Be this our vision, as— 

“On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand, 

And cast a wishful eye, 

To Canaan’s fair and happy land, 

Where my possessions lie.” 


[ 26 ] 


CHAPTER III 
Life’s Call 

“The Call for Christian Patriots.”— Mark 1: 17. “Follow thou Me.” 

All through the ages human beings of every descrip¬ 
tion, class and nationality have clung to some creed, 
practice or custom. If we travel through the pages 
of history, even from the beginning of time, we shall 
find, only to our natural expectation, that men always 
have paid due allegiance to some cause. Whether 
right or wrong, men always have and ever will be fol¬ 
lowers of some cause. This is so because all of us are 
inclined by nature to follow some direction, some 
course, some path of life that tends to lead to a certain 
end. Every one follows some program, some daily 
schedule, be it in the social, business, domestic, pro¬ 
fessional or in whatever walk of life, each follows some 
definite plan. 

In view of this fact men have persuaded men to be 
followers of various beliefs and practices. Calls of 
every imaginable kind have through the ages been 
extended to men all over the world. Some of these 

[ 27 ] 


LIFE’S CALL 


calls have succeeded in attracting to their summons 
large groups of men, while other calls failed in their 
fond enterprise. 

Among the many calls extended to us during our 
life, there arises out of the mist and gloom of them all 
one clear distinct call, such as was never before spoken 
by men; a call that does not come in the busy turmoil 
amid the loud sounding of the trumpet, but a call 
only capable of being heard in the stillness of night 
when the mind instinctively turns to the only true 
and living source of existence—the merciful and 
infinite God. Out from the heavens above there comes 
a call for loyalty to the cause of righteousness and 
truth; loyalty to the cross on which the Saviour died; 
loyalty to the church which the Saviour purchased 
with His own precious blood; loyalty to the example 
He Himself set for us to pattern after; true and faith¬ 
ful to all that is right and just, whether of church or 
state, and, finally, in showing enough Christian 
patriotism as to feel it none other than our sacred 
duty to win men everywhere and at all times unto the 
saving knowledge of Christ. 

Quite apart from Christian patriotism, yet closely 
related thereto, is that unmistakable loyalty to one’s 

[ 28 ] 



LIFE'S CALL 


country and fellow men; something that indeed is not 
exclusive, but is tightly interwoven with Christ’s 
high ideal as expressed in the Fatherhood of God and 
the Brotherhood of man. Therefore, we must give 
the temporal loyalty to one’s country due attention 
in the effort of bringing the one to bear on the other, 
so that both are made to work hand in hand. 

As Americans we take pride in alluding to the out¬ 
standing feature in our nation’s history, which we 
know to have been that of gaining and possessing the 
freedom of worshipping God and doing as our con¬ 
science bids us with the ultimate realization of those 
famous words expressed by Lincoln: “A new nation 
conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition 
that all men are created free and equal.” To this 
high ideal we as true Americans hold fast with deter¬ 
mined perseverance of remaining loyal to that for which 
our fathers fought and died. It is implanted in the 
heart of the youth and preserved in the mind of the aged. 

Similar in nature is that patriotism demanded of us 
by God, who suffered His own Son also to fight and 
finally die for the preservation of righteousness and 
eternal salvation for men everywhere. Great as is the 
allegiance we are duty bound to render to our beloved 

[ 29 ] 


LIFE’S CALL 


land of freedom, yet the call of God for Christian 
patriots is far greater in its reach and end. Linked 
in with this eternal chain of freedom is that of the 
Christian patriot. The burning torch of liberty is 
being handed down from patriot to patriot, but it 
dare and must not pass from the hand of the Christian 
patriot, who is the backbone of this glorious land of 
freedom. Take the Christian patriot away from the 
helm which guides our ship of state, and America 
will no longer be that nation under God whose govern¬ 
ment is of the people, for the people, and by the 
people, never to perish from the earth. 

The Christian patriot is the only hope of America 
if she is to live up to her high ideals and remain true 
to her mission in leading men into the triumphant 
kingdom of Jesus Christ. The world is in sore need of a 
Saviour and it is the Christian patriot to whom the 
world looks to give it that Saviour. O, if we Christians 
but knew of the many that are waiting for us to free 
them from the bondage of sin, we would be nobler and 
truer patriots of the cross of Jesus Christ. No greater 
patriotism has ever been known than that of Christ, 
who remained true to His mission given Him from 
God the Father, even unto the bitter death on the cross. 

[ 30 ] 


LIFE’S CALL 


Before going farther we shall establish firmly in 
our mind what we mean then when we speak of patrio¬ 
tism in the real sense of the word. We are told in 
the language from which the word is derived that it 
means the holding fast to that founded by our fore¬ 
fathers and, secondly, remaining loyal thereto without 
regard for the constant changing of things. Having 
this clearly fixed in mind we at once are convinced 
that such a thing as patriotism is needed in the Chris¬ 
tian life. If it is necessary in the case of a country, 
why should it not be the more needful in the kingdom 
of God? If patriotism is essential in dealing with any 
cause, why should it not be much more essential in our 
relation to the greatest of all causes—the eternal sal¬ 
vation of all men everywhere? If we are in duty bound 
to stand with the head of our United States, is it not 
much more our most sacred duty to stand up for the 
greatest of all heads, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ? 

If being deeply concerned with the interests of our 
nation is a real indicator of our patriotic spirit and 
loyalty thereto, is it not of far greater need to be 
interested in the immediate concern of the spread of 
God’s kingdom here on earth? If we are judged 
according to the way in which we do our daily work, 

[ 31 ] 



LIFE’S CALL 


will we not be judged the more according to the degree 
to which we have the greater business of the King at 
heart? Are we having the King’s business at heart 
to the same extent to which we have our own selfish 
interests at heart? Does our business and pleasure 
receive all our attention, while the more important 
work of the Master must drag along? O, it is lament¬ 
able to see how poorly the vineyard of the Lord is 
kept by us as His husbandmen. 

Did you ever think what the Lord would say if 
He were to come today to inspect the vineyard which 
He has given to our charge? We know not when 
our Lord may come to the keepers of His vineyard 
and ask them to give a strict account. The Lord’s 
vineyard of today is badly neglected. The present 
day is in sore need of true patriotic husbandmen. 
That is what we mean in the Christian sense of being 
a patriot. 

Today God is calling for Christian patriots; for good 
husbandmen who will faithfully discharge the duties 
of taking care of His vineyard here on earth. Who 
will answer the call? Who will say, “Here am I, send 
me”? How often we repose in the pleasures of this 
world, not caring about the spread of the gospel until 

[ 32 ] 


LIFE’S CALL 


suddenly we are struck by the Father’s voice, saying, 
“What doest thou here, Elijah? Get thee up and be 
gone; work in My vineyard, for I have need of thee 
there.” Why stand we as idlers in the marketplace 
when all of us are needed to bring in the ripened grain? 
Behold the harvest is white for the reaping, but where 
are the laborers? 

My message is God’s call for Christian patriots; 
men and women upon whom He can depend; into 
whose hands He can entrust this sacred work of being 
husbandmen in the vineyard of the Lord. Behold 
the call is heralded throughout the world, “Who will 
work in my vineyard; who will consecrate his service 
this day unto the Lord?” It is service willingly and 
voluntarily offered that God is looking for. Who will 
volunteer to be a Christian patriot and go and labor in 
the Lord’s vineyard? 

For a moment may we look at some men whom God 
called, paying special attention to the answer these men 
gave God. Moses was called while tending a flock of 
sheep belonging to Jethro, his father-in-law. God 
called him out of the midst of a burning bush, saying, 
“Moses! Moses!” He responded by saying, “Here 
am I!” Samuel was called while asleep with the old 

[ 33 ] 


LIFE’S CALL 


prophet Eli. God called him out of the midst of his 
sleep three times, saying, “Samuel! Samuel! Samuel!” 
He responded, saying, “Speak, Lord, for Thy servant 
heareth.” Jonah was called while in rebellion against 
God. He refused to take heed thereto, fled by ship to 
Tarsish, was thrown into the sea, swallowed up by a 
whale and there, finally, in the belly of the fish, he 
responded to God, promising Him to go over to that 
great city of Nineveh and preach God’s word. 

Matthew, the tax collector, was called while sitting 
at his receipt desk. Jesus, upon passing by, saw him 
and said unto him, “Follow Me,” and straightway 
we are told that he left his desk and followed the Lord. 
Cornelius, the centurion, was called in a vision about 
the ninth hour of the day. The Lord called him 
through an angel, who came to where he was, saying, 
“Cornelius, arise for the Lord has need of thee.” He 
responded in fear, saying, “What is it, Lord?” Paul, 
the apostle, was called while on his way to Damascus 
with the idea of persecuting the Christians. God 
suddenly appeared unto him in a great light shining 
round about him from heaven, saying, “Saul, Saul, 
why persecutest thou Me?” Paul, trembling, in as¬ 
tonishment, said, “Who art Thou?” and the voice 

[ 34 ] 


LIFE’S CALL 


came back to him, “I am Jesus who thou persecutest.” 
Then Paul, in deep humiliation and sorrow, responded, 
saying, “What wilt Thou have me to do?” 

Ah, friends, as these venerable men of old were called 
by God, even so today we are called by the selfsame 
God to work in His vineyard. The call is ever the 
same—the saving and winning of this world over to 
Christ and His kingdom. God calls men with as 
great a force as He called Abraham, Isaac and Jacob 
of old. God called; God-fearing men and women are 
needed today to lead the mad rush of the world to the 
feet of Jesus; yea, they are needed just as much as 
they were needed in the days of the Israelites to lead 
them into the promised land. God, throughout all 
ages, has raised up and called men in His own special 
time and manner to perform a certain work for Him. 
God called Luther to reform the age in which he lived. 
He called John Knox, Zwingli, Calvin, Wesley, Wyclif, 
and others too numerous to mention, to be reformers 
of the world. Coming down closer to our own country, 
God called George Washington to be the founder of 
this great republic. Lincoln, God called to be the savior 
of this same republic; and so all down the march of the 
ages, God called men and they cheerfully responded. 

[ 35 ] 



LIFE’S CALL 


We also are called. What shall we respond? God 
may not call us to be a Luther, a Washington, or a 
Lincoln; but He may call us to perform as great a 
work, and to serve as great a purpose, even though 
it be only on a small scale. All of us are called to do 
something; to fill some place in God’s great plan of 
redemption. What will we respond? Will we answer 
the call in saying with Moses, "Here am I”; with 
Samuel, "Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth”; 
with Cornelius, "What is it, Lord?”; with Paul, "What 

i 

wilt Thou have me to do?”; or with Peter, will we 
cause Christ thrice to say unto us, "Lovest thou Me? 
If so, then feed my sheep, then follow Me”? 

When Christ called His disciples, we are told that 
it is said of them, "And straightway they forsook 
their nets and followed Him.” It took little hesitancy 
on the part of the disciples as to whether they were 
to obey the call or not. Why was this so? Because 
they knew the Master had need of them; because 
they knew Him who said unto them, "Follow Me.” 
They knew they could follow no better leader, could 
choose no better course, could live no better life, could 
be engaged in no better business, than becoming 
fishers of men. Poor fishermen as they were all their 

[ 36 ] 


LIFE’S CALL 


life, they knew their disqualifications of becoming 
disciples of the great Master of heaven and earth. 
They knew how poorly fitted they were for this great 
task, but He who called them knew that far better than 
they themselves; yet the Master could make use of 
them, and was not ashamed to call them His disciples. 

Jesus today is earnestly and tenderly calling you 
and me just as sure as he called those humble fishermen 
by the sea of Galilee to be His first disciples. Un¬ 
fitted as they were, yet because the Master called 
them, they were obedient thereto. Why was this so? 
Because they well knew that the Christian on his knees 
sees more than the wise men with all their knowledge; 
because they knew there was more chance for a cripple 
on the right road, than for a racer on the wrong road. 
They forsook their nets because they were not ashamed 
of Him who called them; because they heard the still 
small voice of Jesus saying unto them, 1 ‘Christian, 
love Me more than these”; because they knew there was 
no profit in gaining the whole world and losing their 
own soul, and therefore they did not listen to Satan 
when he said, “All this will I give thee if thou wilt fall 
down and worship me.” 

Ah, who of us will answer the call for Christian 

[ 37 ] 


LIFE’S CALL 


patriots? How many with Simon and Andrew will 
cast away their old nets of sin; will give the world 
the last look; will turn their backs upon the wickedness 
of this world; will leave the border land of God’s 
kingdom, and follow Jesus into the midst of the land 
that flows with milk and honey, there to dwell and 
prosper for time and eternity? 

We must conclude our discourse, but that is not the 
be-all and the end-all. Lo, from the throne in heaven 
above, God is calling unto the sons of men; calling 
them to go and labor in His vineyard. What shall we 
respond? God is not calling in vain; He demands a 
decision from every one of us. Answer we must, 
either yes or no. If we work not in His vineyard, we 
by that very act have given the Master the answer, 
“No.” Oh, can there be a heart so cold that will not 
answer the call of Him who gave His life for us on 
calvary? 

God is calling and the sons of men must answer. 
We are the sons of men. God is calling you and me. 
What shall be our answer? 

“Lord, thy servant here prepare, a strict account to 

• » j 

give. 


[ 38 ] 


CHAPTER IV 
Life’s Hidden Treasure 

“Buy the Truth and sell it not.”— Prov. 23: 23. 

Every person is conscious of the fact that all life is 
a search for a goodly heritage. Every man is at home 
in this truth. Examine yourself and you will find 
that your innermost motive is to find the best posses¬ 
sion. In business, in thinking, in literature, in preach¬ 
ing, in art, in music, everywhere this truth is common 
to all things: we are seeking for the treasure of the 
greatest worth. “Who shall show us any good?” is 
the cry of the anxious human heart. 

This is so because men are always seeking some 
good investment. Some things cost little, but also 
are worth little. Other things cost much, but when 
once possessed they are an invaluable treasure. Still 
other things cost equally much, but are not worth 
half their cost. 

In spite of all the unfairness of the modern business 
world, there is one product on the market, which has 
been selling for so long a time that it surpasses all other 

[ 39 ] 


LIFE’S HIDDEN TREASURE 


products taken together. Men have been buying 
this product for nearly two thousand years now, and 
all attest to the fact that it is as safe an investment 
as they ever made. They confess perhaps that it 
is the dearest product on the market; they also acknowl¬ 
edge that it has paid them to give the highest price 
for it. 

When a man buys this product, he is not cheated 
by having to give more profit than the product itself 
is worth, but rather receives full and equal recompense. 
And this is exactly the investment people are looking 
for. People have been robbed so desperately by unfair 
business that they are eagerly looking for some buy 
where they will receive full value. If there are any 
such people here, let me know and I will tell you where 
you can get the best purchase of which you ever knew. 

It is a product placed on the market by the oldest 
and most reliable business man of the whole world. 
This business man has the reputation of giving the 
best interest on any investment; of never having 
defrauded any one; of having the best capital ever 
heard of, for he is never known to have gone bank¬ 
rupt, but always to have had more funds in surplus 
than he needed to pay his investors. Unlike any 

[ 40 ] 


LIFE’S HIDDEN TREASURE 


other business, he asks the highest price for his product, 
but in return therefor gives a lasting product. Unlike 
any other product, this is the only one that has the 
genuine guarantee attached to it. It is the only 
product on the market that has the stamp of eternity 
upon it. If you hold this product up to the light 
you cannot find any dross in it; for it has passed through 
the refiner’s pot and has come out the pure unmixed 
gold. When you compare this product with other 
products you will find all other products to be full of 
dross, because no one has the recipe for the making 
of this marvelous product but He alone, who has been 
engaged in setting it forth from the foundation of the 
world. Men in all ages have tried to produce some¬ 
thing of an imitation of this excellent product, but in 
vain; for he who wants this product must go to the 
one and only dealer and pay the price of its worth. 

Now then, having gone through this preliminary 
order, I am ready as a salesman to introduce the head 
of the firm which deals in this business and present 
for sale the product, which I as a salesman am com¬ 
missioned to sell. 

My employer is the everlasting God, the head of 
the firm of salvation and eternity. The head needs 

[ 41 ] 


LIFE’S HIDDEN TREASURE 


no further introduction, for I am sure we all have had 
dealings with Him in some form or other. An employer 
with so universal a name needs no introduction, for 
the name itself bespeaks the character of the person. 
The Almighty One, the everlasting God, the Lord 
Jehovah is His name. 

Thus I shall proceed to demonstrate the product my 
employer offers for sale. My text is the product, 
“Buy the Truth,” and the open Bible is the catalogue 
wherein the price and nature of the product are 
recorded. Never has any man found the product 
of Truth falling short of the guarantee the catalogue 
promises concerning it. “Buy the Truth and sell it 
not: prove me herewith,” saith my God, and see if it 
be not the best purchase you have ever made. “If 
you believe not me and my words,” saith my God, then 
ask the thousands upon thousands of men and women 
who already have bought this product, and let their 
words be your conclusive proof that the product has 
been found to be exactly that which the open Bible 
claims it to be. 

This is the very purpose which the kingdom of God 
came to satisfy. The secret of this kingdom consists 
in addressing itself immediately and profoundly to the 

[ 42 ] 


LIFE’S HIDDEN TREASURE 


supreme desire of the heart. As light is adapted to 
the eye; as sound is adapted to the ear; as substance 
appeals to the touch, so this kingdom of heaven appeals 
to our highest sense. It appeals to something that 
is in us; for it answers an interior voice; it meets a 
felt necessity. The kingdom of God is not like unto 
a dreamer or a poet; but like unto a merchant who 
lays his plans, awakens his energy and inspires his 
enthusiasm to gain a goodly heritage. Wondrous 
kingdom; it will join any man in his daily toil and say 
to him, “In so far as he is a wise and honest workman, 
I am just like you.” It does not merely go to the 
artist and poet, but it also comes down to the day 
laborer and says, “This is what I do, I dig—I am just 
like you.” 

Now let us note the worth and price of this wondrous 
product of Truth, for the worth of something is one 
of the most important considerations in any transaction. 
Different from any other product, its worth cannot 
be measured in terms of dollars and cents; but must 
be represented by the value which Christ placed upon 
the soul of man when He said, “For what shall a man 
give in exchange for his soul?” Nothing can become 
the substitute of this precious treasure, because there 

[43] 



LIFE’S HIDDEN TREASURE 


is nothing that can measure up to the high standard 
of the Truth of Him who said, “I am the Truth.” 
As for its essence, it is without fault, for it is given as 
the pure and perfect gift of God. In its nature it is 
unchangeable, for its value never changes but remains 
the same from age to age; because the Truth that 
came by Jesus Christ cannot be broken. Its face 
value is salvation and its guarantee is eternity, and 
hence salvation and eternity form the essence of the 
product of Truth. 

The price of the worth of Truth consists in the 
submission of our life to that of God. “Take my yoke 
upon you and learn of me, for I am lowly and meek 
of heart; for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” 
Again, that price consists in the sacrifice of sinful 
desires and worldly affections. “Wherefore, if thy 
hand or foot offend thee, cut them off and cast them 
from thee; it is better to enter into erternal life halt 
or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet 
and be cast into perdition.” Still again, the price of 
Truth consists in possessing enough backbone to brave 
worldly contempt and persecution. “For unto you 
it is given in behalf of Christ not only to believe in 
Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” 

[44] 


LIFE’S HIDDEN TREASURE 


Such is the kingdom, of God which comes to us, 
saying, “I am a merchantman who has found a hidden 
treasure; examine it, test it, receive it, but in so doing 
all other treasures must be given up.” Therein lies 
the test of the price of the product of Truth. The 
piercing words of Christ unto Simon Peter form the 
basis of the test, when He said, “Simon, son of Jonas, 
lovest thou Me?” 

What is Christianity without love for Christ but a 
catacomb in which to bury religion. It is a cage 
without a bird; the gaunt skeleton of a man out of 
which life has fled. A deeper burning love for the 
Son of God is needed in the church of today. The 
Christ, forceful as man, yet gentle as woman; radiant, 
graceful and expressive, can and must be the only 
attraction of the church of God. He who spoke the 
greatest words ever known with such manly simplicity, 
healing power, forceful and sympathetic charm; He 
it is who demands our unswerved love. His person 
is sweeter than his garments, dearer than His scepter, 
more glorious than His throne. Love to Him is the 
very heart’s core of true religion. We may be ever 
so zealous in doing great things, yet when we have 
done all, we shall be as sounding brass and a tinkling 

[45] 


LIFE’S HIDDEN TREASURE 


cymbal if we have not love for the Christ. It is not 
possible for a man to be a Christian who has not love 
for the Christ. Take the heart away and life is im¬ 
possible; take love for Christ away and religion in the 
highest sense of the word is impossible. All blessings 
come to us from His pierced hands and hence if we 
have received them we must love Him. You cannot 
walk in the sun without being warmed, nor receive 
of Christ’s fullness without being moved to love Him 
in return. 

After the price of love had been paid, the next 
natural price will be that of willing service. When 
Christ called His disciples we are told that it is said 
of them, "And straightway they forsook their nets and 
followed Him.” It took little hesitancy on the part of 
the disciples as to whether they were to follow Him 
in willing service or not. Why? Because they knew 
they could follow no better leader; could choose no 
better course; could live no better life; could be engaged 
in no better business than becoming fishers of men. 
They forsook all else because they knew there was more 
chance for a cripple on the right road than for a racer 
on the wrong road. They followed Christ because 
they knew there was no profit in gaining the whole 

[46] 


LIFE’S HIDDEN TREASURE 


world and losing their soul, and hence they did not 
listen to Satan when he said unto them, “All this will 
I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” 

What are all these quotations and references but so 
many expansions of the great doctrine of the text that 
the kingdom of God is like unto a merchantman, who 
having found a hidden treasure, more valuable and 
precious than all others, surrenders his life-gathered 
store in order that he may possess himself of this most 
valuable of all treasures. 

How this very truth corresponds in our own life! 
Here is a book collector who points out some one book 
for which he may have given up fifty other books. 
We have all known men who have coveted some 
particular picture and as a result they have taken 
down all the other pictures on their walls and have 
said, “They all shall go if I can get that piece of paint¬ 
ing.” And so it is with the kingdom of heaven. 
“Yea,” doubtless saith Paul, “for I count all things 
but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ 
Jesus, my Lord.” 

Having this memorable resolve in mind, where then 
is our competing treasure that would equal itself to 
this, the treasure of all treasures? Where is there 

[47] 


LIFE’S HIDDEN TREASURE 


a nobler love or a grander purpose than the finding of 
the Christ, the most precious of all treasures? 

Ever since the star glittered on the plains of Beth¬ 
lehem, no man has arisen to claim the heathen for an 
inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for a 
possession. Christianity alone makes this supreme 
claim to every one who wishes to purchase the best of 
all treasures. It asks us to lay our little possessions 
beside it, that it may prove and show by self-revelation 
how little they are when compared with the magnitude, 
the quality and the luster of the Truth of the kingdom 
of God. 

“Buy the Truth and sell it not.” This is the hidden 
treasure that asks to be looked at in the light of all 
that has gone before it. An offer which comes before 
me with a claim so broad, so substantial, so mani¬ 
festly profound in its common sense, cannot do other¬ 
wise but arrest my thoughts and demand my confidence. 

Love, cherish, venerate the Truth. Reprove it 
not; despise it not, for the Truth of God, as nothing 
else, maketh thee wise unto salvation. If we humbly 
face its frowns now, it will smile upon us in death 
and reward us in eternity. 

To those who are seeking a good investment; the 

[48] 


LIFE’S HIDDEN TREASURE 


best purchase; the hidden treasure; to all such my God 
saith, “Buy the Truth.’’ 

To those who already are in possession of the Truth 
of salvation and eternity; to all such my God saith, 
“Sell it not.’’ 


[49] 


CHAPTER V 
Life’s Estimation 

“What think ye of Christ?”— Matt. 22: 42 

If you want to know the true caliber of a man, you 
only need to know what that man best likes to think 
about, because that which we most think of, is that 
which we best like to be and to do. When a business 
firm wants to employ a certain person, it will inves¬ 
tigate the character of that person so as to know what 
interests that person most; what he most desires in life; 
and to what he pays most of his attention. If the firm 
has these three outstanding features in a person’s 
life investigated, it can pretty accurately determine 
what kind of a person the applicant is. When once 
you know what interests a person most in life; what the 
person most desires in life; and to what he pays most 
of his attention, then you have solved the thinking of 
that man. 

And what else is thinking but an outcome of the 
springs of the heart. If the heart is pure, then the 
thoughts will also be pure, for none of us can have 

[501 


LIFE’S ESTIMATION 


pure thoughts if the heart is filthy. And what else 
is the heart but the soul, the real life of the inner man 
himself. So, then, if all that we think comes from the 
heart, and all that we do comes from the thoughts, 
then all that we think about is like seed sown into the 
ground, and as is the seed, so must be the fruit. Where¬ 
fore, if you know what kind of seed a man sows, you 
know what kind of fruit to expect. Do men gather 
peaches from apple trees, or apples from peach trees? 
No. Just as are the seeds of thought we now are 
sowing, so must be the fruit. You need not ask a 
man what kind of seed he is sowing, or what he is 
thinking about. You only need to look at his fruit 
and you will know. If a man does not pay his honest 
bills; if he is not interested in wholesome things of 
life; if he desires to be and to do other things than that 
which is pure and just; if he centers his attention upon 
all that is foolish in life, if you know all this about the 
man, you need not ask that person what he is thinking 
about, because our life tells our story. 

So when Christ asked the learned doctors of the law 
what they thought concerning Himself, Christ knew 
that the answer they would give Him would settle the 
question as to whether they were Christians or not. 

[51] 


LIFE’S ESTIMATION 


Christ is the head-cornerstone in the whole temple 
of creation, and hence it is our attitude to Him that 
must determine the making and the outcome of our 
life. Wherefore, if all that we think determines the 
making of our life, and if Christ is the decisive point 
of all our thinking, then the question, “What think 
ye of Christ?” must be the be-all and the end-all of the 
whole life of man, both here and hereafter. 

Imagine yourself seated in a court room. Before 
you is seated the judge, and you are a member of the 
jury. And imagine the case before the court as being 
the question under discussion, “What think ye of 
Christ?” Imagine witnesses before you, pro and con. 
With this mental picture before us, let us first call to 
our attention the friends of Christ and hear their 
testimony concerning the person in question. “Joshua, 
suppose you take the witness stand.” “What 
do you think of Christ?” Hearken to his answer, 
“As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” 
“Isaiah, what do you think of Christ?” “Christ is the 
Wonderful, the Counsellor, the Everlasting God, 
the Prince of Peace.” “Job, what have you to say 
concerning this man Jesus?” “I know that my Re¬ 
deemer liveth.” “David, from whose seed sprang 

[52] 


LIFE’S ESTIMATION 


the Immortal Saviour, what is your testimony?” 
“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” “Solo¬ 
mon, what is your opinion of Christ?” “He is like 
the lily of the valley; like the rose of Sharon; like the 
bright and morning star.” Passing on to the New 
Testament friends of our Lord, let us observe the 
evidence with which they can furnish us. “John 
the Baptist, you who baptized the great person of 
whom we are speaking, what have you to say con¬ 
cerning Him?” “Behold the Lamb of God, that 
taketh away the sins of the world.” There is the 
Apostle Peter, who walked with Him and talked with 
Him, “What is your conviction of the Christ?” 
“Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 
Hearken unto Paul, the great teacher and writer of 
the glorious gospel of Christ, “What word have you 
for our Lord and Saviour?” “For me to live is Christ.” 

Thus far we have only listened to but a few of the 
thousands of the friends of our Lord. In order, there¬ 
fore, to accord just procedure to the case before us, 
we must needs call upon some of the enemies of Christ 
regarding their thoughts of Him. Hearken unto one 
of the multitude: “Never spake any man like this 
man.” There stands Pilate, before whom our Lord 

[ 53 ] 


LIFE’S ESTIMATION 


was brought for trial, what are his words? “I find no 
fault in Him.” Is not this a most remarkable testi¬ 
mony as coming from the lips of an enemy of Christ? 
Listen to the words of the wife of Pilate, as he was 
engaged in passing judgment upon our Lord. She 
said, “Pilate, have nothing to do with that man, for 
I have suffered terrible things in a dream because of 
Him.” Mark the words of him, who betrayed our 
Lord, after he had committed the awful deed: “Truly 
I have betrayed innocent blood.” Lastly, consider 
the words of the centurion as he stood by the side of 
the cross, when our Saviour breathed His last. “Truly 
this was the Son of God.” 

Now, then, the case is before you as a jury. What 
are you going to do with Jesus? It was the custom 
among the Jews to examine the paschal lamb before 
it was slain. It was inspected every day before it 
was appointed to be slain. So also the Lamb of God’s 
Passover, our Lord, was questioned by friends and 
foes before being offered up for us on Calvary. He 
passed under the scrutiny of Pharisees, Herodians, 
Sadducees and lawyers who tested Him in all their 
parts, yet they like Pilate could find no fault in Him. 
As then, so now, the question of all questions is, “What 

[ 54 ] 


LIFE’S ESTIMATION 


think ye of Christ?” All other questions dare not 
concern us until this is settled. When the vessel is 
going down, the one thing needful for every man is, 
“How can I get to land?” Until that is settled, we 
are lost and only upon reaching land, dare we think 
of this and that and the other thing. 

Suppose you were to die tonight, and you never 
know just when that time may come, because life, 
of all things, is most uncertain, it would then be of 
little concern to you as to this or that or the other thing. 
Your chief concern and all your thoughts would be, 
“I know I must die; I cannot stay here any longer, and 
so I must go somewhere else, but where am I going?” 
Therefore, let nothing interfere with the business of 
your soul. Put all other questions aside until that is 
settled, and then come back to the less important 
things of life. A man is drowning, and you hold out 
your hand to save him, but he will not grasp hold of 
your hand until you can assure him that you can 
speak proper English. Is he not an idiot? All else 
is immaterial when one’s life is at stake. Let us get 
on dry land first and then we may think of this, that 
and the other thing. We cannot afford to split hairs 
when souls all around us are perishing. Get right 

[55] 


LIFE’S ESTIMATION 


with God first, and the rest will take care of itself. 
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things 
will be added unto you.” 

Second, observe the question concerns the person 
of the Saviour—a point we too often forget. We speak 
of the Lord’s teachings and doings, but we ought 
more often remember that He was a real person. Not 
a name, not a myth, not a fiction, not a shadow that 
has passed across the historic page, but a real person 
of whom we must know by coming into personal con¬ 
tact with Him. Do you feel that He is enthroned in 
your heart’s best love? Bleeding on the cross, yet 
exhalted on the throne, can you equal these two things? 
Put all other questions aside, and see whether you have 
thought right concerning Christ or not. 

Paul, in writing to the Corinthians, says, “Other 
foundation no man can lay, than that which is laid, 
which is Christ the Lord.” This cornerstone, this 
foundation, was cast aside by the head of the master 
builders. It is said that at the building of the temple 
under Nehemiah, there was a stone which the builders 
did not know where to place. So they cast it aside 
with the remainder of the refuse into the valley of 
Hinnon. Later a king upon passing by saw the open- 

[56] 


LIFE’S ESTIMATION 


ing in the wall of the temple and ordered the missing 
stone to be found. It was found in the valley of Hin- 
non, covered over with all manner of refuse. The stone 
was placed in its proper place in the wall, and then, lo, 
to the surprise of all, it was found to be the chief 
cornerstone. It is from this incident that we derive 
the great truth—the builders of the Jewish religion 
found no place for Jesus Christ in the building of their 
religion. 

They cast Him aside as refuse. They built their 
religion upon outer ceremonies and moralities and 
works of self-righteousness. Other people welcomed 
Him and have found a place for Him in the building 
of their lives. The Jewish builders found no fault 
in Him. They could not accuse Him of any sin; the 
power, wisdom and purity of His character they 
could not deny Him, and yet, in spite of it all, they 
rejected Him. Today the selfsame thing takes place. 
Today people go to Palestine to find a cornerstone 
for their church, and O, how often they forget to go 
to God’s word and there find the foundation of their 
religion, their faith and their salvation. 

How then are we to know what we are building and 
what we are thinking of Christ? By this, every man’s 

[57] 


LIFE’S ESTIMATION 


work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare 
it and the fire shall try every man’s work to see of what 
sort it is. Oh, the fiery test. An awful moment 
it is when fire leaps upon a man’s work to see of what 
sort it is. Fire is peculiar in that it does not distin¬ 
guish between one person and another. It does not 
say, “This house was built by royal hands and that 
house by peasant hands, and therefore I must be 
gracious to the one and severe to the other.” Ah, no, 
fire is no respecter of persons. But there is one thing 
which fire cannot do. It cannot burn gold. It can 
melt it, but not destroy it. That gold is found in 
the word of God. No man has any reason to fear 
the test of fire, if he uses as his foundation the precious 
gold offered him in the salvation of Jesus Christ on 
Calvary. 

And this leads us to a third point, namely, what 
kind of thoughts have we of Christ? If there is no 
thought in our religion, there is no life in it. When 
we cease to think rightly of Christ, we begin to destroy 
our soul. The mind, the will and the heart must 
exercise themselves toward God, for if they do not, 
our worship is dead worship. Jesus suggests that we 
must think of Him and Him only. Is it a pleasure for 

[58] 


LIFE’S ESTIMATION 


you to think of Christ? Do you so love Him, that 
you delight to think of Him? As you naturally think 
of food and clothing, do you find it just as natural for 
you to think of Christ? These are the inquiries that 
try the steel of a man. Can you say, “In the heavenly 
Land, thrice happy am I and my heart it doeth leap 
at the sound of his name’’? Do thoughts of Jesus 
keep you back from sin and incite you to be and to do 
good? Is Christ worthy of your actual, practical, 
diligent service, or is it all talk, idle chat, broken 
resolutions and vain professions? 

Our everyday life indicates that which we think of 
Christ. Our everyday life is like a thermometer, 
which records our warmth of love for Christ. God 
looks upon it, man sees it and you know it. The way 
in which we act, talk and live shows what we think 
of Christ. Look at people wherever you go, and you 
can soon see what they think of Christ. Low thoughts 
of Christ weaken the best character, but love for the 
Saviour leads to good and noble deeds. 

See Christ lovely beyond all things and He will make 
a man and woman of you to the fullness of man and 
womanhood. Let Jesus not be a shadow to you, or 
your religion is not substantial. Let Him not be a 

[ 59 ] 


LIFE’S ESTIMATION 


myth to you, or your religion is mere fancy. Let Him 
not be a fiction to you, or your religion is not true. 
Let Him not be merely a name to you, or your religion 
will be all name and nothing else. Let Him not only 
be a teacher to you, or you lack a Saviour. Let Him 
not be far off, but near and dear to you all the way. 
As He is God’s beloved, so may He be your beloved. 
As He is Lord of all Lords, so may He be your Lord. 
And when any one asks you, “What think ye of Christ?” 
may you be able to say, “He is all my salvation, and 
all my desire; through life and unto death, my Saviour.” 

“Christ is not valued at all unless he is valued above 
all.” 


[60] 


CHAPTER VI 
Life’s Value 

“What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”— Mark 8: 37. 

One of the many questions that has engaged the 
thought of man comes to our attention in this fashion 
—which is the more valuable, the world or the soul? 
Various answers have been given, but when the 
Christian is asked to give an answer, he replies, “I 
have but one answer; to me the soul means more than 
the world, and hence I cannot surrender my soul for 
the world.” 

Now in order that we may know the real worth of 
anything, we must have a true appreciation of its 
value. We can have an appreciative valuation of 
anything only by knowing something about that 
thing. A person living in a house has a better idea 
of what that house is worth than one who knows 
nothing about that house. Today I know far better 
what a typewriter is worth than I knew before I had 
one. And so the principle holds good in all cases. 

[ 61 ] 


LIFE’S VALUE 


In order to set a just value on anything we must of 
necessity know something about that thing. 

Our text means to say—what can you find that is 
equal to the soul? When we exchange anything for 
something else we expect to receive in return something 
that is equal in value to that which we exchange. When 
a man exchanges a house for an automobile, we will 
say, he expects that automobile to be worth as much 
as the house. When we pay a dollar for something 
we expect to receive something that is worth a dollar, 
although that is not always the case. So then when 
we say, “What shall a man give in exchange for his 
soul?” we mean, “What can a man find that is worth 
as much as the soul?” 

Let us see then what we mean by the term “soul.” 
The soul is the higher life: the life not of the body, 
nor of the mind, but of the feelings, the affections 
and aspirations. So then the soul is nothing more 
than your real self. If then a man exchanges his soul 
for anything else, he, in reality, is exchanging himself 
for something that never is equal to his worth. Surely 
no one wants to sell himself for a trifle of money or 
pleasure or what not else. And yet how many are 
doing this very thing—selling themselves? This is the 

[62] 


LIFE’S VALUE 


very business in which Satan is engaged—the buying 
and selling of souls. Every day Satan has his auction 
of souls and, oh, how many sell themselves for a little 
mess of pottage? Every day Satan entices men, 
saying, “I will give you so much of pleasure or money 
if you will sell your soul to me.” How many there 
are who sell their birthright for a little pleasure, think¬ 
ing they have gained thereby and, lo, when that little 
pleasure is ended, they see what a poor bargain it 
has been as they lie despoiled and forsaken along the 
cruel road that leads to hell. 

Can a man be so foolish as to sell that soul which 
must live on forever? Our souls can never die. No 
matter whether they be saved or lost, yet they can 
never die. We may do with ourselves what we wish, 
yet we shall not be able to destroy the soul. There 
is a Forever stamped upon it that cannot be erased. 
Think, then, how foolish it is to sell that part of our¬ 
selves which must go on forever. Surely, if we shall sell 
our souls for something that is not its equal, our 
soul shall be lost. It is not lost in the sense that it 
is no more; but worse than that, because it can never 
die, it must go on forever in eternal misery and slowly 
to that to which it has been sold. Surely we shall be 

[63] 


LIFE’S VALUE 


the losers and shall have no one to blame but ourselves, 
for every man is master of his fate and captain of his 
soul. Even as clay in the hand of the potter may be 
spoiled or made to use, even so the soul lies in our 
hands, either to be lost or to be kept for life eternal. 
“Life is real, life is earnest and the grave is not its 
goal; dust thou art, to dust returnest, was not spoken 
of the soul.” 

What then shall we do with this most precious soul of 
ours? What price then shall we set as the worth of the 
soul? A skillful jeweler, who has taken a great deal 
of pains to make up some exquisite piece of jewelry, 
cannot be blamed for getting provoked when he sees 
his workmanship fallen into the hands of children or 
fools, who have no understanding and cannot estimate 
what work has been put upon it, and hence will not 
take care of it, but soon will have it ruined. Such a 
rare piece is the soul of man, the work of Almighty 
God after His own image, so precious that the soul 
is at a loss to find anything to equal it. Like as the 
jeweler is wroth when he sees his workmanship 
trampled under the feet of children who cannot value 
his work, even so the Spirit of God is grieved when 
that which He hath made to be a temple for himself 

[64] 


LIFE’S VALUE 


to dwell in, shall because of sin be exchanged to become 
a den of thieves, a cage of unclean birds, and a harbor 
of impure thoughts. How grieved God must be when 
He sees the soul, the workmanship of His own hands, 
exchanged for that which is not worth it. 

Witness Christ’s estimate of the value of the soul, 
“For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole 
world and lose his own soul?” Our Saviour, in these 
words, takes as it were a pair of balances in his hands 
and places the world in one scale and the soul in the 
other. On the one side is this little sparkle of life, 
which must soon pass away. On the other side is 
the bright burning glow of life eternal. Upon weigh¬ 
ing these two elements, Christ showed that the soul 
outweighed the world and hence was worth the more. 
Why then should the gain of the world imperil the 
salvation of the soul? Does not experience speak for 
us here? Have we not all lived long enough to dis¬ 
cover this much, that when our heart is set eagerly 
upon any of the things of the world, we are tempted 
to go to the very level of that which we desire, and as a 
result we will not be giving the soul the care it de¬ 
mands? 

Ah, but hearken, there is still a greater reason why 

f 65 ] 


LIFE’S VALUE 


there is nothing that can be given in exchange for the 
soul, and that is because Jesus has bought our souls 
with the price of his own life. The real value of any 
object is that which one will give for it who knows 
its worth. Jesus gave His own precious blood as the 
price for the redemption of the soul of man. A price 
so dear—think then, oh, my soul, the worth of thy 
being? Is there anything to be given in exchange 
for that which was bought with so dear a price as the 
blood of the Lamb of God? What shall be given for 
a thing so precious as the soul when the whole universe 
is a price far too small? 

These souls must be very precious in the sight of 
God since He redeemed them at a price so immense 
as the life of the dearest and best heaven could hold. 
These souls must be infinitely valuable above all that 
we can imagine if God thought fit to require the blood 
of the Darling of heaven for their redemption. The 
misery into which these souls of ours were destined 
to be plunged must have been extremely terrible, 
since God thought proper to allow His Son to leave 
high heaven in order to save them. For what in the 
whole universe is of equal value with the blood of the 
Son of God, the price of the soul of man? 

[66] 



LIFE’S VALUE 


Now, then, if God has estimated our souls at such 
a high rate as the life of His own Son, shall we then set 
such a low price on them as to give them in exchange 
for anything imaginable? If God has given so much 
for them, can we give too much for them or give any¬ 
thing in exchange for them? If, for their redemption, 
God has sacrificed the most valuable person in heaven, 
is there anything too valuable upon earth to be given 
up for them? No, never; for after all that we have 
heard, we ought to be convinced that there is no shadow 
of a doubt in the words of the Saviour when He said, 
“What is a man profited if he gain the whole world 
and lose his own soul?” A soul so valuable ought 
to be preferred before all things, because nothing is too 
precious to be given in exchange for it. If we were 
offered whatever we wish in this whole universe, is 
that the price at which we would sell our soul? If by 
the granting of that wish we should procure from the 
world all the rewards that we can expect, would we 
give our souls in exchange? If we would, we should 
sell our soul at a very low price. See the old man 
bowing under age with almost one foot in the grave, 
at what price would he exchange his soul? At the 
price of a few more days and a few more pleasures? 

[ 67 ] 


LIFE’S VALUE 


At what price does the financier exchange his soul? 
Will he surrender his soul for a pile of money? Will 
the society belle sell her soul for sparkling jewels, 
mansions and all the excitement of a gay life? Does 
that man sell his soul to become a prince or king? 
Oh, for what contemptible things men will sell their 
souls. The soul in exchange for which the whole 
world would not be a sufficient consideration. The 
loss of the soul presents the picture of a man in despair 
who, immersed in all the misery that can torture the 
soul, wishes, but too late, to give everything to recover 
it. Nothing is to be given in exchange for the soul of 
man, for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance 
of things which he possesseth, but rather in first 
seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness 
with the assurance of having all other things added 
unto us. 


[ 68 ] 


CHAPTER VII 
Life’s Secret 

“Behold he prayeth.”— Acts 9: 11. 

The history of prayer is the history of religion. 
Every race and nationality from the beginning of 
time has had a religion in some form or other, no 
matter how different they may have been otherwise. 
Men always have worshipped some God and always 
will, because the tendency to pray is native in us. 
The reason why we need to pray is simply because 
we cannot help praying. In the deepest parts of 
man’s being lies a sense of the feeling of the need of a 
superior power to make his uncertain life more secure. 

The traveler climbs the hills of the Himalayas and 
hears the prayers of North India. He goes back to 
the ruins of ancient Rome and reads the prayer of 
the Romans upon hard stone. The historian finds the 
Greek world and literature full of prayer. Xenophon 
begins every day’s march with prayer. Pericles begins 
every address with prayer. When one turns from the 
superstitious habits to the most elevated of spirits, 

[ 69 ] 


LIFE’S SECRET 


he hears the great Plato, “Every man of sense before 
beginning an important work will ask help of the gods.” 

Thus, we see the naturalness of prayer in all men of 
all ages. We have differences of opinion, but in prayer 
men of opposite ideas agree as one. Luther, the 
protestant, disagrees in many points with St. Bernard, 
the Catholic, and yet, says Luther, ‘'In the faith 
wherein St. Bernard prays do I also pray.” The 
great theologian Hartmann states it, thus: “Give 
a man a passion for prayer and you give him a lever 
to move the world.” 

Jesus descended from heaven in a vision to Ananias, 
saying, “Arise, go to the street that is called Straight 
and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, 
for behold he prayeth.” The fact of Saul’s praying 
was noticed in heaven; was astonishing to Ananias; 
and was a novelty to Saul himself. Notice the atten¬ 
tion God paid to Saul. He knew the street where he 
lived when he said, “Go to the street that is called 
Straight.” He knew the house wherein he lived when 
he said, “Inquire in the house of Judas.” He knew 
where he came from when he said, “Ask for Saul of 
Tarsus.” Last, but not least, God knew he prayed 
when he said to Ananias, “Behold he prayeth.” 

[ 70 ] 


LIFE’S SECRET 


It is a glorious fact to know that prayers are noticed 
in heaven. The poor man, climbing up to his chamber, 
bends his knees in praying in a language of sighs and 
tears; lo, that groan has tuned the hearts of heaven 
into music. That tear has been caught by God. 
Tears are the diamonds of heaven, and sighs are the 
music of Jehovah’s throne. 

Notice the joy in heaven when a man prays. When 
one of God’s children are born again, the angels stand 
around his cradle. They set heaven’s bells ringing 
when they see one of us praying. Heaven is in jubilee, 
and Satan in anger when the angels can point down 
upon you and me, saying, unto our Father God, 
“Behold he prayeth.” Think how glad must be the 
hearts of our loved ones in Glory when the angels can 
tell them, “Behold he prayeth.” 

This was Paul’s real prayer, so that it was a novelty 
to Paul himself. Before this occasion Paul went up 
to the temple twice a day at the hour of prayer. If 
you had accompanied him you would have found him 
pouring out a sublime prayer, but it went for nothing 
before God. He often said prayers, but he never 
prayed. Do you see that man trying to gain a hearing 
from his master? He speaks in blank verse, but God 

[ 71 ] 


LIFE’S SECRET 


pays no attention. Why? Because he merely says 
a prayer, but he himself is not praying at all. Then 
he tries a different style and procures a book, and again 
bending on his knee, utters the most delightful prayer 
he can find. But the most High disregards his cold, 
empty formalities. At last he throws away the book, 
forgets his blank verse, and simply says, “Lord, teach 
me to pray.” Now God hears him because it is not 
words but it is the heart that is speaking. 

“Behold he prayeth.” This is an argument in the 
mind of Ananias. Poor Ananias was afraid to go to 
the house of Saul because he thought it was like 
stepping into a lions’ den. “If I go to his house,” 
thought Ananias, “Saul will take me to Jerusalem 
and persecute me as he has done to all my predecessors, 
for I am one of Christ’s disciples. I dare not go; but 
God says, ‘Behold he prayeth’.” “Well,” says Ananias, 
“That is enough for me. If he is a praying man he 
will not hurt me.” 

There is an anecdote of two men traveling in Switzer¬ 
land. Presently they came into the midst of a dense 
forest, and you know people tell gloomy tales con¬ 
cerning the inns in that vicinity. One is running the 
risk of his life, if he, a stranger, should lodge there. 

[ 72 ] 


LIFE’S SECRET 


One of these travelers, an infidel, said to the other, a 
Christian, “I do not like stopping here at all.” “Well,” 
said the other, “let’s try it.” So they went, but it 
looked so suspicious, that neither felt safe. Presently 
the landlord of the house met the gentlemen with 
these words, “I always read and pray with my family 
before going to bed. Will you join us?” “Yes, with 
the greatest of pleasure,” came the spontaneous reply 
from both men. When they went upstairs the infidel 
exclaimed, “I’m not afraid at all now.” “Why?” 
asked the other. “Because our host is a man of 
prayer.” “Oh,” said the other, “then you think 
something of religion after all; because a man prays, 
you can go to sleep in his house.” And it was marve¬ 
lous how both of them slept, being accompanied by 
sweet dreams; for they felt that where the house had 
been roofed by prayer and walled by devotion, there 
could be found no man to do them harm. 

This was the argument to Ananias, for when God 
said, “Behold he prayeth,” he felt safe in going to the 
house of Saul. If God had said otherwise, Ananias 
might have argued, saying, “I will not go to that 
persecutor’s house.” If God had said, “Behold he 
preacheth,” Ananias might have argued, saying, “That 

[73 1 


LIFE’S SECRET 


he may do and yet be a deceiver.” If God had said, 
“He is going to church,” Ananias might have again 
argued, saying, “He may enter as a wolf in sheep’s 
clothing”; but when God said, “Behold he prayeth,” 
then there could be no more argument, for it was 
sufficient proof of the assurance of safety. 

Oh, Christians, would you be happy? Then be 
much in prayer. Would you be victorious? Then be 
often in prayer. The happiest man is he who has 
caught the vision of prayer and lives with God as 
friend with friend. 

God cannot do for a close heart what He can do for 
an open one. Some things God cannot do until he 
finds a man that prays. If God wants bridges or 
tunnels constructed; lightnings harnessed and cathe¬ 
drals built, will He do the work himself? No. Only 
when men gird up the loins of their minds, and open 
their hearts, is it that God reveals His truth and pur¬ 
poses to man. We pray for the same reason that we 
work and think, because only so can we find out what 
God wants to have done. The best part of prayer is 
not our talking to God, but our listening to God. 

The reason we do not have more true, genuine 
religion today is because we do not have more prayer. 

[ 74 ] 


LIFE’S SECRET 


Oh, let us go to our church and home, saying, “We 
must have more prayer.’’ Have a prayer meeting, 
even if you have it all to yourself; and if asked how 
many persons were present, say four, God, the Son, the 
Holy Ghost and myself. 

One day in Paris a religious procession, carrying a 
crucifix, passed Voltaire and a friend of his, both of 
whom were regarded as infidels. Voltaire lifted his 
hat. “What,’’ exclaimed his friend, “are you recon¬ 
ciled with God?” Whereupon Voltaire replied with 
fine irony, “We salute, but we do not speak.” That 
is true of many a man’s relationship with his God. 
I trust this may not be true with you and me, but hope 
that it may be said of us, “Behold he prayeth.” 


CHAPTER VIII 
Life’s Test 

“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”—I Thess. 5: 21. 

Today we are living in a time of great testing. A 
time when the steel of humanity is being placed under 
critical examination. A time when men of faith are 
again put into the fiery furnace. A time when faith 
in God is strained to the utmost degree so that we 
need again to learn the warning of St. Paul, the 
Apostle, when he said, “Prove all things; hold fast that 
which is good.” 

Any one, going out into the world of today, well 
realizes how unsteady men are with regard to those 
things which are lasting, true and eternal. How many 
are the questions and doubts that perplex men today. 
How easily men are tossed to and fro, not knowing 
whither they are drifting. How all humanity is 
groaning for a solid foundation upon which it may 
rest its weary wandering feet 

This condition arises out of the deception in which 
men have been placed with regard to that which is 

[ 76 ] 


LIFE’S TEST 


true and that which is false. Many are the notions 
men possess regarding truth and falsehood. What 
is true to one man, is apparently false to another man. 
That which is right for one man is seemingly wrong 
for another man. That which was right yesterday 
is regarded as wrong today. One day we accept a 
certain belief and the next day we reject that same 
belief. In short, the morality of man is constantly 
changing, so that we find ourselves in an unsettled 
state of afifairs. This is the result of a morality estab¬ 
lished by man, but absent of God. We cannot have 
any fixed standard of right and wrong if we leave God 
out of our calculation. Man in his views of right 
and wrong is ever changing, while God’s standard of 
life is forever the same. Therefore, we must bring 
our laws into conformity with the divine ordinances 
of God, in order to again insure our proper bearing 
in life. This bearing can only be reached by finding 
the proper standard of measurement by which we may 
prove what are the things that are good, and pure, 
and true. 

This standard of measurement has too long been the 
genius of man, which genius has been found wanting 
in its final reach and end. Men have too long been 

[ 77 ] 


LIFE’S TEST 


the leaders of the blind leading the blind. Men too 
long have deceived each other by mere craftiness, 
shrewdness and false wisdom. This, indeed, is a 
false standard of measurement because its fruits have 
proven its deception, for Christ told us, “By their 
fruits ye shall know them.” 

Man can never be the measurement of man himself. 
He who measures his life by the life of some other man, 
will indeed be a small man in the sight of Almighty 
God. Only as we measure our life by the pure and 
undefiled life and pattern of Jesus Christ, will we see 
what we ought to be and do. His life of thirty-three 
years’ duration has been placed before us as the model 
for all time. This is the standard in the face of which 
all things must be tested. Anything that cannot 
stand in the face of Jesus Christ and His righteousness, 
is proven to be wanting. 

In order, therefore, to determine what are the 
things that are good, and hence worthy of holding 
fast, we must bring forth the divine scales of God and 
then proceed by placing Christ, our standard, on one 
side of the scale, and the thing to be proven on the 
other side of the scale, and therefrom reach the solution 
of our problem. In all our testing always let us see 

[ 78 ] 


LIFE’S TEST 


the model of Christ in the background, and we shall 
have the genuine guarantee of reaching the proper 
conclusion. Whatever be the problem before us that 
needs to be solved, we can always answer it by asking 
the question, “What would Jesus do?” This is the 
standard which we must adopt by which to judge all 
our thoughts, all our actions and the final outcome of 
the course we choose. 

The religion of Jesus Christ, when put to this test, 
will be found to be good and hence worthy of holding 
fast. Those who have recently become Christians, 
and those who have been long years in the service 
of Christ, need to have their thoughts stirred, and their 
souls quickened by a very practical consideration of 
the religion of Jesus Christ. 

The religion of Christ is not a transient passing 
fancy, but is an ever-living force working upon the 
hearts of men, convicting them of sin, of righteousness 
and of judgment to come. Its resources are adequate 
to all human needs, and adapted to all human nature. 
We have not seen the day, nor will we ever see the day, 
in which we shall outgrow the religion of Jesus Christ. 
It has developed the strongest and purest character 
the world has ever seen; it has changed more lives 

[ 79 ] 


LIFE’S TEST 


than anything ever known; it remains as the inspira¬ 
tion and power of an endless life. 

There is stored in the religion of Christ all that any 
man may ever need for the development of his social, 
intellectual and spiritual life. There is a vigorous 
impulse in man to test the resources of old mother earth, 
and nature bears the test gloriously. Put the religion 
of Christ to the same test; try it with as keen an in¬ 
terest and we shall soon see that it is not leaning upon 
the staff of old age. 

The religion of Christ is not limited to the rapture 
of sins forgiven; its life is not confined to meditations 
upon divine love. The religion of Christ is a living 
religion, which always apprehends the emergencies 
and needs of every generation. It always bears in 
willing hands the blessings of salvation to a perishing 
world. It presents a gospel that meets all the require¬ 
ments of man, and applies this gospel in stimulating 
great movements of thought and action. 

In Paul’s letter according to I Timothy 4:8, we 
read: “Godliness is profitable unto all things, having 
the promise of this life and of that which is to come.” 
Herein Paul sets forth a decisive conclusion which 
serves as a splendid answer to the question in hand. 

[80] 


LIFE’S TEST 


There are many things a man may have without having 
godliness. A wicked man may have health, may have 
earthly possession in largest measure, may have 
learning, may have fame; but what do all these things 
amount to without godliness? Our health may fail 
at any moment, then what have we in our sickness 
without God? Our wealth may vanish at any moment, 
then what have we in our poverty without God? Our 
fame may lessen at any moment, then what have we 
in our obscurity without God? Our learning may 
turn to no account when seeking to understand myster¬ 
ies, then what have we to supply our lack of knowledge 
without God? Or, if we retain all these earthly gifts, 
yet there are cravings within us which all these gifts 
taken together are not able to satisfy. With robust 
health, pocket full of money, mind well stored, fame 
secured, yet with all this we shall find that sorrows still 
surround us, injustice still confronts us, dissatisfaction 
and unrest still meet us, and last of all we find with all 
these resources, we shall have nothing of word or 
thought to meet the emergency. There we shall 
stand like unto a helpless child, at the end of our 
extremity, feeling the need of something more satis¬ 
fying and more enduring. It is not until man comes to 

[ 81 ] 


LIFE’S TEST 


the utter extremity of his abilities and resources, that 
he realizes, to the fullest extent, his need of the all- 
sufficiency of Jesus Christ and His salvation. 

All these earthly gifts will do for some things, but 
there is one thing that will do for all things and that is 
the unexcelled religion of Jesus. So when we come 
to you and ask you to believe the faith and live the 
life of a Christian, we come offering something that 
has been proven to be of greater value than any other 
thing under the sun. Nothing in this whole wide world 
has been put to as many and severe tests as the Chris¬ 
tian religion. And nothing has so valiantly withstood 
the test, and come out with such a great and glorious 
triumph as the Christian religion. All the wisdom 
this world has ever produced has repeatedly been 
hurled against the Christian religion, only to find in 
amazing surprise that it cannot be wiped from off the 
face of the earth. All the criticism of the ages has 
been used to discover as many faults as possible in 
the Christian religion, only to prove to the world that 
it contained no dross but came out the pure unmixed 
gold. Hence we are convinced all the more that the 
religion of Christ is not a myth, not a supposition, not 
a make-belief, but rather we are fully persuaded that 

[ 82 ] 


LIFE’S TEST 


the foundation of God standeth sure, knowing that 
no other foundation no man can lay than that which 
is laid, which is Jesus Christ the Lord. 

Proof of the inevitable good resulting from the 
Christian religion is found in the fact that it purifies 
the body; that it illumines the mind; and that it 
quickens the soul. It penetrates into every depart¬ 
ment of life, whether business or amusement; social 
intercourse, or private meditation. Ask the physician, 
ask employers of labor, ask teachers in school, ask 
any one whom you please what their experience 
teaches them respecting the average virtuous and 
wicked person. They will tell you that the godly 
person has the healthiest body, is the most faithful 
servant, the most painstaking student, the best 
citizen, and the happiest man. A man who is formed 
and then reformed and then informed by the religion 
of Jesus Christ, will do far more effectual work than 
the same man who is without the Christian religion. 
The Christian works with less friction and anxiety 
because his care is cast upon his heavenly Father. 
He works with more confidence because his trust is 
placed on one higher than himself and hence more 
dependent than himself. 


[83 1 


LIFE’S TEST 


In the long run the man who is a Christian is the man 
who is trusted and respected. Who does not admire, love 
and esteem a man who has been a Christian for fifty, 
sixty or seventy years? Who honors a man for having 
lived an ungodly life for fifty, sixty or seventy years? 
Look over the life of a man who has been a Christian 
for fifty years, and then look over the life of one who 
has been an ungodly man for the same length of time, 
and you will soon be convinced whether it pays to be 
a Christian or not. 

A practical appeal of a practical life is found to be 
in the long run far more telling than all one may ex¬ 
plain or argue in favor of the Christian life. It may 
be impossible to get a man to listen to or take interest 
in the principles upon which the Christian religion is 
founded. But it is always possible to show that man 
what a life of godliness really is by living that life 

yourself. We as Christians can always show others 

% 

that the Christian life is full of joy, rich in blessings, 
and proves to be an asset in every walk of life. Men may 
refuse to listen to or be moved by words, but they 
cannot help noticing and being influenced by the life 
of a godly man. 


[ 84 ] 


CHAPTER IX 
Life’s Jubilee 

“Ye shall proclaim liberty throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants 
thereof.”—L eviticus 25: 10. 

These words form the basis upon which this glorious 
land of America was founded—the basis of liberty. 
The law of liberty is not a new one, but is as old as 
God Himself, who is its author and promoter. 

Early in the life of Israel, God ordained a year of 
Jubilee, which meant a proclamation of freedom to 
all men everywhere. This period of Jubilee happened 
every fifty years, determined by the lapse of seven 
seven-year periods, because seven was a complete 
number to the ancient Jews. So when the time of 
completeness had arrived, there was to be a time of 
great joy and rest, and hence it received the name of 
Jubilee, which meant the beginning of a time of great 
joy and gladness. 

Jubilee began on the day of atonement, after the 
priest had atoned for the sins of the people, which 
was announced by trumpet blasts. It was marked by 

[ 85 ] 



LIFE’S JUBILEE 


a complete suspension of all labor. All fear for lack 
of food was quieted by God’s command, “I will com¬ 
mand my blessing upon you in the sixth year.” Man 
needed occasional rest as seen by the importance 
God gave it when He hallowed the Sabbath Day. 
Man was not to give himself over to ceaseless toil or 
unrestraining endeavors to gain riches. Christianity 
repeats the selfsame lesson. Mary pausing from her 
work to listen to Jesus, is a better model than Martha 
ceaselessly toiling. “Come ye apart and rest awhile,” 
spake Christ unto His disciples. 

A second feature of the year of Jubilee was the fact 
that the spontanteous fruits that grew during that 
year were open to all. No man had the right to 
appropriate them to this or that person. It taught 
the lesson of a common dependence of all people upon 
God’s bounties, and His equal regard for all alike. 
What grew in the fields that year was God’s harvest, 
free to all. Christianity endorses this principle. Chris¬ 
tian charity urges that we contribute to the happiness 
of all men. 

The third feature of the year of Jubilee was the fact 
that it restored to men their lost liberties. Every 
Hebrew, whom poverty or misfortune had deprived 

[ 86 ] 


LIFE’S JUBILEE 

of freedom, now regained all his rights as a free man. 
It brought back to the original owners the estates 
which had been taken from them, because of poverty 
or slavery. Jubilee recalled to remembrance the 
fact that the land belonged to God and that man was 
only the keeper thereof. Nothing that we have in 
our private possession is strictly our own; it is only 
entrusted to us as stewards of God, to whom all be¬ 
longs. And in the day of Judgment all of us must 
give account of our stewardship, whether or not we 
have wisely invested that which God has entrusted 
to us, to be used not for ourselves, but for the good of 
all men. Thus Jubilee, from this standpoint, was 
instituted by God to prevent the accumulation of 
land in the hands of a few. It demanded the general 
and equal division of land among all men. Against 
this very thing we must guard here in America. To¬ 
day, in America, 480 families own 41 per cent, of all the 
property in this land, so that if all these families chose 
to combine with their great money power, they could 
erect an aristocracy that would rule this land. Great 
Britain is today suffering because of a similar fact. 
Ireland is rocking as with an earthquake because the 
land is held in the grasp of a few rich landowners, 

[87] 


LIFE’S JUBILEE 


while the mass of people are stripped of their ancestral 
possession and are sunken in poverty. Because of a 
similar evil the French Revolution overturned the 
French Government. Christianity does not support 
the idea of having everything in common, but it offers 
a remedy, which expresses itself, thus: Let property 
be held and administered on Christian principles by 
being rich in good works; ready to distribute and 
willing to help where help is needed. 

Every one was further given a new start in life with 
the coming of the year of Jubilee. Through this new 
start in life, given to every one alike, all men were 
placed on an equal footing, as if they entered the 
promised land anew and experienced afresh the 
original covenant of grace. 

All this brings before us man as the ransomed child 
of God. The year of Jubilee made the slave a free 
man and the poor man a property owner. How 
Christianity emphasizes this very truth! It forbids 
the oppression of any one for whom Christ died. 
Christ died for all men alike, and hence no man is to 
be oppressed, regardless of race, color or nationality. 
He may be poor, ignorant or even wicked, but shall he 
be oppressed on that account? Nay, because for him 

[ 88 ] 


LIFE’S JUBILEE 


the plan of redemption was also intended. For him 
Christ also laid aside His regalia in heaven and came 
down to earth for his salvation. For him also Christ 
made satisfaction for sin, and for his regeneration 
Christ also sent forth His Holy Spirit. Out of respect 
for all this, man is to be treated with kindness, love 
and forbearance, and in the Judgment Christ will say, 
“Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of 
these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.” 

Finally, Jubilee is a type of the gospel age which 
Christ came to proclaim. As the year of Jubilee, so 
the gospel of Christ brings rest of heart to all who hear 
and obey its joyful sound. The gospel like the Jubilee 
brings deliverance from the bondage of Satan, sin 
and self. Like the year of Jubilee so the gospel of 
Christ brings forgiveness of debts, which we all owe 
our heavenly Father. We all are poor debtors. Our 
debts exceed the best our lives can offer. Justice 
must have reckoning, for there is no trifling with God, 
but for us also there has come a period of Jubilee. Our 
Jubilee began with the coming of Christ to earth, and 
that Christ is here now to pay the debt we owe our 
God. Each soul apart from Christ is a poor slave, 
but in company with Christ is free from all fetters. 

[89 1 


LIFE’S JUBILEE 


Satan enchains the soul, but Jesus vanquishes this 
despot and sets us free from Satan’s power. Sin 
rules our old nature and it must reign till Christ is 
allowed to enter the secret chamber of the soul, for a 
new passion gains the throne of our heart when Christ 
comes into our life. This world is a foul tyrant. 
Its smiles allure; its frowns deter; its fashions force 
compliance; it drives its millions to a slavish toil, but 
the grace of Jesus Christ frees from the world’s en¬ 
thralling snare. Death, too, is a foul tyrant and none 
can relieve but Christ himself. 

As the year of Jubilee restored former inheritance, 

# 

so the gospel of Christ restores our lost estate, which 
we once held in heaven. Sin drove man from the fair 
abode he once occupied, and forced him into a wilder¬ 
ness of desolation. God’s smile was lost and the bless¬ 
ing of communion with him ceased. But Christ 
restores with more than the heritage of Eden. Christ 
came, lived, died, and now reigns to grant this Jubilee 
of freedom and rejoicing to all souls. 

Hear the words of our great Liberator as He stood 
in the Jewish Synagogue and said, “The spirit of the 
Lord is upon Me, because he has anointed Me to 
preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal 

[901 


LIFE’S JUBILEE 


the broken-hearted; to preach deliverance to the 
captives and recovering of sight to the blind; to set 
at liberty them that are bruised; to preach the accept¬ 
able year of the Lord.” He, who spoke these words, is 
the one who becomes our life, our liberty, our ransom, 
our peace, our joy, our hope, and our final glory. It is 
the trustful soul that rests in a Jubilee of joy, freedom 
and salvation. 


CHAPTER X 

Life’s Hope or Immortality 

“Because I live, ye shall live also.”— John 14: 19. 

Of the many and varied questions that have engaged 
the thought of man, perhaps there is none that has 
commanded more consideration than the immortality 
of the soul. Belief in man’s continued existence after 
death is one of the most ancient and widespread of all 
human convictions. From the early dawn of history 
even to the present day, the idea of immortality is 
common to all nations. Although this idea does not 
receive universal acceptance, yet it must be admitted 
that it wields a universal sway over the thought and 
concern of all men. 

Nothing presents greater mystery and inducement 
to the wisdom of all the ages like the immortality 
of the soul. It attracts the attention not only of 
a certain class of individuals, or of a distinct race of 
people, but it finds its abode in the mind and heart of 
every thinking man and woman. Hence we are 
brought to the place where we feel that such a universal 

[ 92 ] 


LIFE’S HOPE OR IMMORTALITY 


conviction must spring from a sure and fixed source 
of reality. Something that has held the attention of 
man through all these ages, surely must have in it the 
elements of truth and certainty. If this were not so, 
men would have dismissed this question long before, 
but because it has continued to live in the minds of 
men all these years even unto the present hour, we 
cannot help but feel that it possesses the germ of reality 
and truth. 

To convince our mind of the universal prevalence 
of the question before us let us call to your attention 
but a few of the many evidences of the ideas men have 
had concerning the life of the soul after death. 

May we first consider the early developments of 
religion; when religious belief was yet in its infancy 
and crude in its nature. Here in this early period 
we find the mind of the savage already conceiving the 
idea that the soul is not extinguished at the death of 
the body, but enters into a frail shadowy existence 
which is confined to the place on earth where it dwelt 
while still living in the body. Although we recognize 
this idea as very imperfect and crude, yet we must 
respect it, because it contains a germ of belief in life 
beyond the grave. And though poorly expressed and 

[ 93 ] 


LIFE’S HOPE OR IMMORTALITY 

conceived of, yet it represents an attempt to lay hold 
on that which man’s inner nature always told him to 
be true. It was an humble beginning, but one which 
has continued to develop till today it appears as the 
unfolding of the full grown belief in the immortality 
of the soul, as expressed by Christ when He said, 
“Because I live, ye shall live also.” 

Passing down the ages we come to the religion of 

ancient Babylon. Here mythology informs us about 

/ 

a goddess who is said to have descended to the under 
world and after being there for a brief period of time, 
again appeared on earth. To the Babylonians this 
myth was their expression of life beyond the grave. 
Like as this goddess descended into death and later 
reappeared, so man likewise must pass through the 
same experience. Even as the sun sinks in the west 
and rises in the east, so man also at the end of this life 
sinks into death and with the sun rises again into the 
light of a new day. 

From the Babylonians we pass to the religion of 
ancient China. Here we find a people who continue 
to worship their ancestors after they are dead and 
gone. The Chinese people believed in a world full of 
spirits into which a man’s soul would enter after death. 

[ 94 ] 


LIFE’S HOPE OR IMMORTALITY 

And so with this belief, each family had what was 
known as a hall of ancestors in which were preserved 
various objects used by these ancestors while here on 
earth. In this hall they held frequent banquets, at 
which they offered numerous sacrifices to the spirits 
of the departed ancestors, imploring them to return 
to the body they forsook and to the objects they once 
employed. Thus by means of this practice they 
maintained a very low but partial belief in the existence 
of the soul after death. 

Still more clear is this idea of immortality as we 
come to the religion of Egypt, which is noted for its 
serious consideration of the life beyond. No other 
nation bestowed so much care upon the dead as that 
of Egypt. 

One of its earliest practices in this direction was the 
embalming of the dead, or the attempt to keep the 
body from perishing. This was done because of the 
belief that the departed spirit had only gone on a long 
journey, after which it would again return to the bod^ 
it had forsaken; and hence the body needed to be pre¬ 
served for the habitation of the returning spirit. 

Coming to the Israelites of the Old Testament, we 
find them sharing the general belief of the early world 

[ 95 ] 


LIFE’S HOPE OR IMMORTALITY 


that the dead pass into an underworld which they 
called Sheol, where the dead were found in a shadowy 
existence until the day when God would set up His 
kingdom on earth with Jerusalem as its capital. The 
Old Testament Jew firmly believed in the final restora¬ 
tion of the world when there was to come a period of 
unending happiness and with the long hoped for 
Messiah as their king. 

Thus we have noticed but a few of the many evi¬ 
dences of this universal belief in immortality, but it 
is not until we come to the New Dispensation that we 
first receive a clear and definite idea of the life beyond. 
It is in this period that we finally arrive at the climax of 
our conviction, in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ 
from the dead. This is the most satisfying of all hopes 
in the life beyond, for He who is the author and 
finisher of our faith hath said, “Because I live, ye shall 
live also.” This belief is the proudest monument of 
the Christian religion. Deprive us of this belief, and 
we shall have a religion without hope. Nothing is 
of greater value than our supreme hope as expressed in 
these words. 

Having thus given brief attention to these foregoing 
evidences of a belief in the immortality of the soul, 

[ 96 ] 


LIFE’S HOPE OR IMMORTALITY 


may we now inquire more definitely as to why we as 
'Christians place such strong faith in the life beyond. 

First, we are convinced that our soul can never die 
because of its immediate origin. What is the origin 
of the soul? It is not of men. What is born of the 
flesh is flesh, and hence is destined to die. The soul’s 
origin is found in the very breath of the everlasting 
God, who breathed into man and he became a living 
soul. You and I have within us the very breath of 
God and because it proceeds from God it cannot die, 
but like Him, must live on through all eternity. We 
have souls that can never die—do not forget that. 
The most cruel persecutors can only kill the body and 
after that they have no more that they can do—they 
cannot touch nor destroy the soul. 

Again, we are convinced that our soul can never die 
because of its nature. The soul is not a combination 
of flesh and blood as is the body, but it is an indivisible 
spirit, free from every perishable substance. It is 
immaterial in its nature—that is, it is not composed of 
matter such as wood, earth or iron. These are material 
things which you can divide and cut into pieces. Not 
so the soul; it is out of the reach of every slaughtering 
weapon; the sharp arrow cannot penetrate it; nor the 

[ 97 ] 





LIFE’S HOPE OR IMMORTALITY 


glittering spear pierce it; nor the two-edged sword 
divide it. 

Again we are convinced of the immortality of the 
soul because of its powers and faculties. The under¬ 
standing of man can take in things spiritual, and 
eternal, which it would not be capable of doing if 
it were not of the same nature itself present within us. 
Spiritual things would make no impression on us if 
there were not in us something to respond to this 
influence. The very fact that we are susceptible to 
spiritual things, bears evidence of a like nature in us, 
else there would be no response in us. Still again the 
knowledge we have of various things is very imperfect 
because of the brevity of life. This life is too short 
in which to fathom the endless depths of the great 
storehouse of knowledge. Hence we are justified in 
reasonably concluding that there must be a hereafter 
where we shall be able to finish and perfect that which 
we have left undone and imperfect when called out 
of this life. Surely the God who has aroused in us a 
longing after knowledge, will not at the end of this 
life deprive us of the vast unexplored territories of the 
infinite knowledge of eternity. 

The will of man is always seeking the best possible 

[ 98 ] 


LIFE’S HOPE OR IMMORTALITY 


good, in whichever form that may be. We all naturally 
desire complete happiness. There is none who does 
not desire to be happy in the fullest sense of the word. 
Now we all know that here on earth we never have 
absolute and complete happiness. There is no such 
thing as complete happiness here on earth. We may 
be happy at times, but it is not what you call real 
and lasting happiness. This world knows little of 
true and genuine happiness. Since then we cannot 
hope to have lasting and true happiness here, we are 
justified in expecting a future life in which we shall 
receive such joy as is not to be found here, but for 
which we have an earnest longing and a strong inclina¬ 
tion. Surely the God who has implanted such a longing 
in man will also satisfy it, wherefore we may feel that 
our hope is not in vain. 

Having thus given due thought to various reasons 
outside of God’s word, may we now center our thought 
upon the Word itself and discover what it teaches 
concerning the life beyond. We read of Abraham 
that in dying he was gathered to his people, and of 
Jacob we read that he expected to meet his son Joseph 
in the spirit world. The record of the translation of 
Enoch and Elijah and the calling up of the spirit of 

[ 99 ] 


LIFE’S HOPE OR IMMORTALITY 


Samuel testify to the general belief of the Old Testa¬ 
ment world in a future conscious existence. Still 
more clear is the conviction of Job, who confesses, “I 
know that my Redeemer liveth, and after my body 
is destroyed, then without my flesh shall I see God, 
whom I even I shall see.” The Psalmist expects a 
deliverance of the righteous in saying, “Thou wilt 
not leave my soul in Sheol, neither wilt thou suffer 
thy holy one to see corruption.” Then coming to the 
New Testament we receive a deeper meaning of the 
promise of eternal life as offered by Christ and pledged 
by His own resurrection from the dead. 

But it is noteworthy to realize that this promise of 
eternal life is invariably coupled with faith in Christ 
and communion with Him. In John we read: “He 
that believeth on Me, though he die, yet shall he live 
and whosoever liveth and believeth on Me shall never 
die.” Christ, as none other, gave the words “life and 
death” a new meaning, when He said, “This is life 
eternal that they should know thee, the only true 
God, and Him whom thou hast sent, even Jesus 
Christ, and he that heareth my word and believeth 
on him that sent me, hath eternal life and has passed 
out of death into life eternal.” This, then, is all 

[ 100 ] 


t 


•> 


o 


) 

o 


LIFE’S HOPE OR IMMORTALITY 


linked up with faith as the condition of eternal life. 
Thus the continued existence of the soul after death 
is clearly taught in the Bible. 

“If the spirit that raised up Christ from the dead 
dwells in you, then follows the conclusion, that he who 
raised up Christ from the dead will also raise us into 
newness of life with Him.” To have the spirit of Christ 
in you is to fashion your life after His own blessed 
image, so that you may truthfully say, “It is not I 
that live, but Christ liveth in me.” If this be our 
confession, then Christ will be just and true in remem¬ 
bering us by acknowledging the glorious hope of the 
ages, “Because I live, ye shall live also.” 

Nothing is so well received as Christ’s victory over 
the last enemy that is to be destroyed. The world 
needed a Saviour to die for its sin, but it could not end 
there. It had to have a living Saviour. The problem 
as to who shall roll away the stone is solved. The 
stone is away; the tomb is open; and Christ liveth. 

Henceforth there remains no shadow of a doubt 
as to the assurance of life beyond the grave; for all 
the clouds of uncertainty must pass from off the 
horizon with the rising of the Son of God from the 
tomb of death. See Him standing triumphant within 

[ 101 ] 


LIFE’S HOPE OR IMMORTALITY 


the doorway of his vacant tomb, pointing back to 
Calvary, where he answered man’s need. Hasten 
to the place where they lay Him as from the deep 
silence of the deserted tomb there rises a voice that 
echoes and re-echoes to all the ends of the earth— 
“Because I live, ye shall live also.’’ 


FINIS 


[ 102 ] 












/ 


Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: May 2006 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township. PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 





















